How do you successfully run a financially sound household and overall life? While certainly no financial experts, Dr Tommy Perkins and his wife, Jo, talk about their own family finances in the hope of providing some of the things that are working for them. Here are a few strategies to consider…
Talk about finances
As individuals who have come together to live your lives side by side, it’s important to see eye to eye about finances. Be open and honest when it comes to talking about how to spend your money and what your goals are. Of course, they’ll change over the years, but touch base as a couple to ensure you’re both on the same page every step of the journey. This will help with shared decision making, as you’ll inevitably have to make a major financial decision as a couple one day.
Make sure you and your partner fully support all plans and decisions and are thinking about finances through a family lens. Think about taxation from a family viewpoint and be sure to take advantage of all the relief and allowances available to you.
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What to talk about
Now that you’ve resolved to discuss your finances with your partner, what exactly do you talk about? Start with setting up a financial plan and then once that’s done, review your plan at least once a year.
Go over your goals – short, medium, and long-term ones. Track your progress and celebrate milestones achieved. Sometimes, you’ll need to reset the goal posts and come up with new goals
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Involve the whole family
Get your kids involved and educate them about money. If you give your children an understanding of money, then they can see that becoming successful financially can help you be more in control of your own life. You have the power to make your own decisions, rather than someone else. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that money really does make the world go round so if you work hard and have a smart plan building and protecting your wealth, the life you worked so hard to provide for will be all the more satisfying because you’ll get to decide how to live it.
In other words, money doesn’t make you happy, but it does give you choices.
Think about merging finances
If you’re married, think about merging your finances with your spouse. Not just for tax purposes, joining forces for day-to-day expenses could be beneficial in other ways, as well. This might not make sense for every couple, such as if there’s a significant income gap, but there are ways to level the playing field, so to speak, and allow both parties to have a fair say into spending and saving now and in the future.
These few bits were just the beginning. For even more useful tips and tricks to navigating family finances, listen to the full podcast here.
“What medical school didn’t teach us about money” will give doctors a step by step plan to transforming your financial future. Enter your details to download your copy nowWhat medical school didn’t teach us about money
